Blog: No comment

Recently I talked with a friend about why there’s rarely any feedback for my posts while other bloggers usually get comments, sometimes evolving into quite lengthy discussions. This might come back to bite me… but, anyways, I’d like to consider some of the possible explanations for this lack of response.

I am always looking forward to writing these blogs. I love writing as well as overthinking stuff, so this really provides a golden opportunity to painstakingly examine all kinds of situations of my international student life. I’m the first to admit that these texts are very much for my own benefit to reflect and learn. While my editor usually comments that ‘lots of people can relate to this’, I still sometimes ask myself, ‘can you though’? But after all, many of us write theses, travel the world, find ourselves in new environments, surrounded by new people and cultures and so on. That’s relatable, right?

So maybe it’s a case of me not being edgy or controversial enough? I wrote here once that I am wary of refugees and there was nothing; there probably were other problematic stuff and yet it was the post about me not speaking Dutch that got the most heated reactions! You want something controversial? I think university gives high grades way too easy. Moreover, I think this does not reflect the quality of the work of high grade getters, but shows that the remaining majority are not up to a task to study at the expected level. Here, I said it, feel free to lay it on me in the comments.

It was the post about me not speaking Dutch that got the most heated reactions!

Or is it my English? I’ve been told recently that my academic writing is not formal enough, while my blog posts might be too formal! When did that happen? This is the first time I’m writing for an audience which is predominantly non-native English speakers, and I’m still not sure how to deal with it. Of course, I myself am a non-native English speaker: that and being trained in a very formal writing explain why I write how I write. It’s not easy to change that. Or is this a stupid thing to worry about?

Talking to a mirror gets boring sometimes (surprising, I know). Feedback from someone other than my mum would be nice once in a while – sorry, mum! But even if there’s no response, I still hope that someone somewhere reads my posts and thinks ‘huh, interesting’. But just this once I’d like that in writing, please.

Re:acties2

Mr. Q

6 april 2016 17:30:42

If you want to get a discussion going, you might want to choose a controversial topic, rather than writing blogs which are too serious and mainly focussed on your study/work. Sometimes it feels like you are writing diary entries rather than blog posts. Take a stand on a controversial topic, and I'm sure people will comment on it!

Huh, interesting

5 april 2016 20:30:44

Yes, your blogs are indeed generally rather formal and sometimes maybe too relatable. Like being weary of refugees, some like them, some don't, but everybody is unsure about what it will be like, or a bit weary. If everyone thinks the same, there is no need for response, is there?However the part of not writing formal theses is unfortunately a tad bit too relatable. I'd rather write a cool science novel than these hypershort sciency stuff with stupid citations every 2nd sentence. Oh the Dutch can be very sensitive about those smallest of words such as cool and stupid, as well as spelling mistakes, they'll get you response for sure!Finally on the part of high grades, there indeed you got me thinking, but before I'll state my 'refined' opinion (exp from 8 universities), how would you suggest to improve that? When does one earn a 7 and how a 9? Does it vary (strongly) across studies?Do grades really, truly matter, at all?